1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automated machine for making edible croquettes wherein said croquettes are made from a stuffing and are produced in elongated cylindrical form, having rounded half spherical ends.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The primary means of making a croquette in an elongated cylindrical form, which is made up of stuffings, has been by hand. The procedure included shaping an elongated mass of stuffing into a narrow cylindrical form, then cutting this cylindrical form into shorter lengths: croquettes.
Often times, bread crumbs are added to this cylindrical croquette which make an improvement for cooking and frying the croquette.
However, these croquettes, like many items produced by hand, do not have a uniform shape or size. Furthermore, the ends are cut flat, which make for an uneven and unsightly appearance.
Additionally, when the stuffing mass is rolled into a cylindical form, a swirl within the mass is created and does not make for a relaxed croquette stuffing.
Heretofore, there have been no machines to manufacture cylindrical croquettes. However, the desirability of manufacturing an elongated cylindrical product with rounded spherical ends has been recognized in U.S. Pat. No. 4,404,229, issued on Sep. 13, 1983, to Tivel Developments, Ltd., entitled: Method for the Production of Molded Meat or Meat-Like Products. This invention, primarily for sausage links and hot dogs, recognized the need for rounded spherical ends and cylindrical link products. Their solution was to insert a mass into an elongated cavity. Insert a plunger to fill the cavity with a filler and then withdraw the plunger. Caps at each end of the cavity form the ends of the product. The end product must then be withdrawn from the cavity.
As will be seen, the present invention extrudes a filler in a continuous elongated cylindrical form. U.S. Pat. No. 2,488,046, dated Nov. 15, 1949, issued to F. C. Werner et al. entitled "Dough Extruding and Cutting Machine", includes a hopper 7 which extrudes dough from nozzle 11. However, when slicing the extruded product into convenient sizes, a number of problems arose. Mr. Werner developed a simple means for cutting the dough and returning the cutter to a position to cut the next succeeding dough, which is being continually forced from the nozzle. His invention solved the problem by developing a special path for cutting wire 39. However, as will be seen, this path made only one cut per cycle. The present invention, using a different apparatus, makes two cuts per cycle.